


Bedtime Stories

by respoftw



Series: The Adventures of Ace Dameron [2]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: ALL THE FLUFF, Developing Relationship, Fluff, Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-07
Updated: 2016-01-07
Packaged: 2018-05-12 11:08:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5663971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/respoftw/pseuds/respoftw
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>" - and they all lived happily ever after."  Ace finished excitedly, shifting up to his knees as he perched on the side of Finn's hospital bed, watching intently for his reaction to the story.  "Did you like it?  Was it the best story you ever heard?!"  </p><p>The one where Finn tells Ace a very special bedtime story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bedtime Stories

" - and they all lived happily ever after." Ace finished excitedly, shifting up to his knees as he perched on the side of Finn's hospital bed, watching intently for his reaction to the story. "Did you like it? Was it the best story you ever heard?!"

Chuckling, Finn reaches out to ruffle his fingers through Ace's perpetually messy hair. "It was definitely the best story ever," he smiled, "I especially liked the bit where Prince Asa and Princess Rey defeated the entire First Order by showing them how good hugs were."

Ace preens at the compliment and Finn can't help but laugh.

_Laughing._

That's something he's found himself doing more and more often these days, laughing. In a lot of ways it seems wrong. After all, he's stuck in a hospital bed, facing a long, arduous recovery. The First Order are still out there and probably working on a new plan to stop the Resistance right this second. Rey is off Stars-know-where doing Stars-knows-what with Luke fricking Skywalker. And Poe...well, Poe was supposed to be back from his mission two days ago.

And yet. He's - for the first time in his life - happy. Being here, on the side of the light, making a difference, it's wonderful. Truly, it is. But it's nothing compared to the sense of belonging that he feels here. Even stuck in a hospital bed, he's never allowed to feel alone. Whether it's members of the Resistance stoping by for a game of Dejarik, the medics who fuss and pamper him - treating him like some kind of hero, the strategists who absorb every detail that he can give them about the Order with a look of wonder on their face, or even General Organa - "for the last time, Finn. Call me Leia. Don't make me tell you again." - stopping by to see how he is. And, of course, there's Ace.

Ace Dameron, whose personal mission it is to keep an eye on him. A mission that he takes incredibly seriously if the way he refuses to leave Finn's room even for sleep is anything to go by.

Luckily for Finn's ribs, Ace had the entire infirmary staff wrapped around his little finger and less than an hour after the charge nurse had walked in to find Ace curled up tightly against Finn's side, his sharp little elbows digging painfully into Finn's ribs, a second bed had appeared in the room as if by magic.

Honestly, it's Ace that's been keeping him sane the last two days - since the moment his heart fell to somewhere near his stomach when General Org-, _Leia_ , had told them both the news that Poe had missed his check in.

He'd assumed that Leia's gentle tone and forced optimism had been for Ace's benefit but, as he watched Ace shrug the news off with the joyful obliviousness and blind trust of youth, he started to realise that just maybe that act had been for him.

 _So much for keeping my feelings for Poe to myself_ , he had thought. _Some Stormtrooper I am, wearing my heart on my sleeve for the world to see. Weak. Feelings are a weakness_.

No.

He wasn't a Stormtrooper anymore. He wasn't with the Order anymore. He wasn't a number anymore. FN-2187 was gone. He was Finn now.

Ace made it easier to remember that, made it easier to laugh and smile and be a person, not a number.

"My Papa tells the best stories." Ace whispers as he wriggles onto the bed properly, situating himself against Finn's side carefully (always carefully, always mindful of Finn's injuries and wasn't that just another reason that Finn was completely in love with Poe's kid.)

"Yeah?" Finn asks gently.

"Uh-huh." Ace nods, his fingers stuffed in his mouth, an action that he only does when he's worried. Finn is kind of blown away that he's gotten close enough to Ace to know that and he figures that if he knows Ace well enough to see he's upset and trying to hide it, it must be his duty to help make it better.

"You know, I tell a pretty good story myself." Finn smiles as he sees Ace's eyes light up with interest.

"You do?"

Finn raises his eyebrows at the hint of disbelief in Ace's voice. "You want me to prove it?" He teases, tickling a giggling Ace until he lets one of those pointy elbows loose trying to squirm away.

"Well, there was a - -"

"- No, Finn. You're doing it wrong. You gotta start with 'once upon a time'." Ace interrupts, his small features serious and exasperated looking.

"Are you telling this story or am I?" Ace mimes zipping his lips shut and Finn continues. "Once upon a time there was a soldier and he was very scared and lonely - "

" - that's sad." Ace whispers. "Why was he so scared? Soldiers is supposed to be brave."

"Well," Finn thinks for a moment. "He was worried that he was on the wrong side but he didn't know how he was going to be able to leave. But then another man, a brave, noble, good man was brought into the soldiers camp and the soldier knew that he couldn't let this man be hurt by the people he fought for."

"I like this soldier." Ace says, sleepily. "He sounds nice."

Finn smiles, forcing himself to swallow around the lump in his throat. "So the soldier manages to get the man away from the bad people but they're still both stuck in the camp and need to get out." Finn brushes his fingers through Ace's hair, smoothing it down and soothing Ace towards sleep. "They need to trust each other to get out and the soldier is worried that the man won't help him, that the man will see nothing but a soldier who's on the wrong side but the man surprises him."

A creak echoes from the doorway of his room and Finn looks up to see Poe leaning against the frame, a surprised smile on his face at the sight of a peacefully sleeping Ace and a wonderfully awake and whole Finn.

Their eyes lock and it's like all the air goes out the room, like the gravity has been turned off and all that's keeping him from floating away is Poe's smile.

Ace stirs against him, murmuring for him to finish the story.

"The man surprised him," Finn continues, never moving his eyes from Poe's. "The man sees more than a soldier, he sees another man. A man that he doesn't hesitate to trust to get them both safe. And for the first time in a very long time, the soldier isn't scared anymore and, even better, he's not alone anymore either."

Ace snores softly, and the feeling of his soft breaths tickling Finn's skin is the only thing that convinces him that this isn't a dream.

Poe's eyes are soft and misty as he walks into the room, leaning down to kiss Ace's soft curls, his face close enough in that moment for Finn to reach out and touch.

Quietly, Poe pulls the chair from the corner and arranges himself in it, his eyes flitting between a sleeping Ace and a curious Finn.

"You know, Ace is right. The soldier does sound nice. I think I like him too." Poe breaks the silence and Finn...well, Finn laughs.

And, for perhaps the first time, he doesn't feel guilty about it at all.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I decided to make this a series. Because I am a sucker for kid fic and all I want in life is to live in a world where Finn and Poe get to be gay, space Dads to Ace.


End file.
